Notes by Alan Jones. Reproduced with permission.
The Bell 314 London Road (A40). Now Bridge House formerly the Hermitage. According to Mary Paget’s book, there was once a beer house called the Bell which is listed in the Hunt’s Directory of 1844, landlord Edwin Chapman. (I don’t have access to this). It is very near to where the bridge where the millstream went under the road to feed the old corn mill set back from the road almost opposite. Could it have been an early beer house aimed at agricultural and mill workers and traders predominantly? I did have access to the 1847 Hunt & Co. Directory and they didn’t list it then. Maybe it had closed. The Bell is listed in 1844. Giving some credence to this thought – Edwin Chapman did become landlord of the Royal in Charlton Kings around this time. Maybe changes in Licensing Laws made running the Bell no longer viable. I don’t know.
I have since learned from an article in Charlton Kings Local History Society Bulletin no.56 from 2010 entitled The Royal Hotel in Horsefair Street by Ann R. Hookey that the Bell was actually located at Mill Cottage opposite Bridge House – she writes “In 1847 Edwin Chapman (1805-1888) moved from the Bell (a beer house at Mill Cottage opposite Bridge House on the London Road) to the Royal as Innkeeper.” This makes more sense. A couple of modern residences occupy the space now.